


Even If the World Ends Tomorrow

by chaerish



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hello World, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Falling In Love, First Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future, M/M, Simulation, Time Travel, hyungwon has too much brains, the others don't appear until chapter 5 or something - oops, they are all pretty much scientists, trigger warnings are in each chapter's notes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27107629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaerish/pseuds/chaerish
Summary: He will love him and protect him, even if the world ends tomorrow. That's the promise he made to Kihyun.In a world where every action of yours is monitored and documented, Changkyun discovers that the world isn't what he believed it to be.
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Yoo Kihyun
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. I Am You

**Author's Note:**

> I never thought I would write a chaptered fic again after my one direction and wattpad phase, but here I am.  
> This fic is heavily inspired by Hello World. It’s a great anime movie, so if you are bored, check it out.  
>  ~~The animation is kinda chunky at the beginning, but it gets better, I swear... or you just get used to it, lol.~~  
>  I hope you will accompany me on this journey and enjoy this piece of hot garbage.
> 
> ps. please don’t use this as a travel guide, im 100% sure that this isn’t geographically accurate because i have no idea how far apart places are from each other, but it isn’t really important to the plot anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **tw// mentions of blood, mention of death**

His hair stuck uncomfortably to the back of his neck as Changkyun made his way through an intricate array of narrow alleys that resembled more a labyrinth than anything else. It was late spring, but summer already announced its arrival with the beginning stages of the unbearable heat that was so very typical for Seoul. The sun was barely hanging over the horizon and he could already feel the temperature climbing up the thermometers.

Changkyun clutched the rough straps of his backpack that cut into his shoulders and left irritated red marks more often than not. He sighed, looking around and watching the city come to life with the morning hours, glancing up in time to see a drone fly by. His eyes subconsciously followed it till it disappeared behind a roof. Nothing out of the ordinary, those things have been there as long as Changkyun was alive. Changkyun didn’t know a world where being observed wasn’t the norm.

Stepping out of the alleys onto the main streets, he walked past a group of tourists, tour guide enthusiastically doing his job and explaining things to the foreigners with wild hand gestures.

“It’s a project to preserve the city’s history digitally in detail, a collaboration between Seoul National University and Deltaa.”

Changkyun watched as one of the tourists held up his tablet and digital particles made space for a projection of a picture that expanded within seconds, depicting architecture from the Joseon era when Seoul was still known as Hanseong.

_That picture appeared out of thin air. Welcome to the future, huh._

“The project is still under development, but this is it.” The tourist guide made a gesture as if he was presenting something. “The Chronicle Seoul.”

Changkyun didn’t catch the rest of what the guide was rambling, city noises drowning out his voice and becoming more inaudible the farther away he walked from the group. He was about to cross the intersection when two other students bumped into him, not even getting an apology as they made their way over, one of the two yelling at the other to hurry up. Changkyun sighed annoyed through his nose, waiting for the pedestrian traffic lights to turn green again and watching the cars drive by, pleasant breeze hitting his neck, causing goosebumps to cover his skin and making a shiver run down his spine.

He hurried up the stairs as soon as he passed the entrance door to his school, trying not to stumble and fall face first onto the concrete steps. Barely making it on time to his classroom and sitting down on his chair, he slipped off his backpack onto his lap and got his schoolbooks out.

_Korean History, what an absolute pleasure to be here in the morning hours._

__

By the time Changkyun’s last class ended, he was mentally exhausted. Trying to pay attention and cramming your brain with information that didn’t interest you in the slightest was a waste of time and energy. He could feel the impending headache creeping up on him, starting in the back of his head and slowly moving forward. He moved his fingers to his temples to massage them, brows furrowing as he tried to lessen the pain.

Now that the official classes were over, the students were left to study on their own. Changkyun decided to just let it be, not seeing any point in worsening his headache, and use his free time to continue reading one of the new books he had borrowed from the public library.

Besides him, only a few other students were in the classroom, standing in a small group around one of the desks next to him. Most people already left but Changkyun found that he quite enjoyed reading in his classroom, a nice change of scenery. His four walls sometimes became too stifling and dull.

He took a deep breath, blinking sluggishly and propped his head on his hand, not even having enough energy to keep his head up on its own. He licked his dry bottom lip, the faint taste of iron lingered on his tongue as his eyes wandered over the passage where he left off.

_“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you.”_

“Karaoke?”

_“So, all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears, so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That’s the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.”_

“Then, what about Youngjae?”

_“And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You’ll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.”_

“Hey, do you want to come, too?”

_“And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”_

_When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in..._

“Hey!”

Changkyun flinched as he was pulled out of his thoughts, book falling out of his hand and onto his desk with a dull noise. He didn’t realize they were talking to him and he stared at them like a deer caught in the headlights. It was a bad habit to completely shut out everything around him as soon as he focused his mind on something. The girl looked expectantly at him, waiting for an answer.

_What was her name again? Ah, Hyejin._

“Sorry, uh…”

_Name. She wants your name._

“I’m Changkyun.”

“Ah, yes, Changkyun. We’ll be going to karaoke with the class today, do you want to come with us?”

_Karaoke?_

Changkyun didn’t feel nearly comfortable enough to belt out off-key notes to corny songs in a stuffy karaoke room filled with people he had to face every day and make a fool of himself.

“Maybe not today.” Changkyun said softly and smiled small. _Probably never._

Hyejin waved her hands in front of her body, shook her head lightly and smiled. “Sorry, if you have something else to do, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Come on, people, let’s go! We don’t have the whole day.” Donghyun yelled form the door of the room, looking impatiently at the small group next to Changkyun, as they hurried to grab their bags and make their way out.

“Is everyone already there?” asked one of the boys.

Donghyun hummed shortly. “Yeah, it’s 30 of us today.” He turned around when he saw the group walk up to him and left with them, leaving Changkyun all by himself in the silent classroom that suddenly felt so big, it threatened to swallow him up.

Changkyun sighed and propped his elbow on his desk, looking out of the window as the sun hung lower in the sky.

It was the next day and the school bell announced the start of lunch break to the relieve of everyone who had to endure hours and hours of boring classes with teachers dumping a whole lot of information on them.

_I should get some food in my system before I start withering away._

On his way down to the cafeteria, he passed little groups of people talking excitedly about what to get for lunch. Changkyun’s gaze was fixed on his shoes, looking as interesting as ever. When he walked down the stairs and turned the corner, he saw the huge crowd in front of the serving counter. It looked like they were fighting over the food and Changkyun was averse to joining them in their useless dispute. Standing behind the crowd, he got on the tip of his toes and tried to get a few peaks at what was left.

_The sandwiches are gone, and so are the baked sweet potatoes._

Changkyun noticed how the crowd cleared up around him.

“Hey, you, which one do you want?” asked the cafeteria lady and Changkyun blinked at her before looking down at the selection.

_Ah, yes, a cinnamon twist or… a cinnamon twist. Very hard choice to make._

Changkyun sighed before he responded quietly. “Uh, a cinnamon twist, please.”

He startled when the cafeteria lady yelled out “Alright, a cinnamon twist for you!”

He made his way up the stairs back to his classroom, cradling the warm brown paper bag with his food in his arms and opening the door when he reached the room on the second floor.

“Do you want to choose arts?”

“I don’t know.” said Hyejin, contemplating look on her face.

“I’m bad at it.” Jieun added with a sad tone.

Hyejin looked like she was thinking about something. “What about calligraphy?”

“Have you seen my handwriting?”

Hyejin chuckled and shook her head softly, “Maybe not the best idea, you’re right.”

_Of course, she’s sitting on my chair, I seriously can’t be arsed._

Deciding that he didn’t want to walk up to them and tell them to leave, Changkyun just closed the door as quickly as he opened it and turned around, making his way outside of the building to look for another spot where he could sit and eat in peace without people bothering him.

It wasn’t as hot as the day before, relatively enjoyable and Changkyun happily bit into his cinnamon twist, munching as he closed his eyes, soaking up the few rays of the sun that managed to get through the curtain of clouds adorning the sky and hit his face.

The next period right after lunch was homeroom class and it would be a lie if Changkyun said that he had been paying attention the entire time. He was staring at the back of the chair in front of him, mind far away and voices muffled. He managed to snap himself out of it a few times but always fell right back into it.

The class representative and vice class representative as well as the teacher stood in front of the class, talking about today’s topics and distributing work to the students.

“Next, library staff.” said the class representative.

The teacher looked up from his list and asked, “Who likes books?”

The entire class turned around to look at Changkyun and he perked up.

_Of course, it’s me._

The teacher looked back down at his list, mumbling while trying to find his name. “Changkyun, is that okay with you?”

Changkyun stood up from his seat and was ready to decline but he saw everyone staring at him and the pressure and expectation to say yes, made him give in.

“I’ll do it.”

“I see, so it’s Changkyun.” confirmed the teacher and the class representative turned around to write his name down on the chalkboard.

“We need another one. Kihyun, will you do it?”

Changkyun wasn’t listening anymore as he sat down on his seat with a defeated sigh. _I really have to work on saying no, jeez._

__

Everyone who volunteered for the library committee met the same afternoon in the library. As the president of the club was getting his papers ready at the front, Changkyun let his eyes wander around the meeting room.

“What class is that girl in?” asked the guy sitting next to him.

“She looks like an idol.” added the friend.

Changkyun side glanced at the guys before he looked at the girl. Chaewon. She was petite, blonde hair cut short and framing her delicate features. She was deep in conversation with her friend, melodic laughter interrupting it every now and then.

_She is… really, really cute, ugh. No, don’t blush now!_

“Alright, guys, let’s start this meeting. It won’t take long, I promise. I think everyone should introduce themselves before I continue with the organization. I will start since I’m the president of the committee. I’m Jinyoung from class 2-2, nice to meet you. I’m glad to see new faces in the club.” He smiled and pushed his glasses back onto his nose with his forefinger before he gestured to the girl sitting on his left side, silently prompting her to continue. She stood up from her seat and bowed before introducing herself, others continuing the chain until it ended with Kihyun.

Twelve people including himself, equal parts girls and boys, Changkyun noticed.

_So, the ones next to me are called Haneul and Yongsaeng._

“I would like you to come to the front, put your name on this list and mark the time slots where you are free and can help here in the library, so I can make this as fair as possible for everyone and it doesn’t interfere with any of your classes or other extracurricular activities. For communication purposes I have already created a group chat on Kakao. If you don’t want to join it, find someone you can exchange information with. Unless you have any questions, that would be all for today and you are free to go after filling out the list.”

Changkyun couldn’t even blink before Haneul and Yongsaeng already rushed to Chaewon and begged her for her phone number, Chaewon happily shared it with them. It wasn’t long before the other boys in the committee joined them. Changkyun stood in the back of the room and contemplated whether or not he should ask her, too, but before he could ask, she already left with her friends.

_Missed the moment._

He was the last one to write down his information on the sheet of paper, Jinyoung left him and Kihyun alone in the meeting room, right after neatly putting the list away in his backpack and bidding them goodbye with a small smile and a wave. Changkyun looked at the phone in his hand, grip tightening a little around it and thumb pushing the corner of his case off and back on.

_Come on, be confident. You can do this._

“K-Kihyun…” Changkyun reached out his hand as if to make Kihyun stop in his track.

Kihyun turned his head, looking over his right shoulder, face expressionless and unreadable.

“Hm?”

Changkyun shrunk back a little, pulling his hand back hesitantly. “Um, you aren’t in the group chat. Don’t you want to… exchange numbers?” He scratched the back of his head and smiled nervously, biting the skin off his bottom lip and running his tongue over it.

Kihyun turned around fully to face him and walked closer, getting his phone out of his pants pocket with his thumb and forefinger, holding it by the very edge as if it was contaminated, using one finger to tap around on the screen.

_Is he opening Kakao?_

He made little sounds while tapping around on his phone, trying to figure out whatever he was doing there. Kihyun held up his phone and wiggled it around a little. Changkyun’s face fell as he watched the ridiculous scene playing out in front of him. He narrowed his eyes a little, words getting stuck at the back of his throat, not really knowing what to say.

_What the hell…_

“Um, just the number is fine…” he laughed awkwardly. “It’s in profile under ‘more’.”

Kihyun looked like he wasn’t really listening to him, tuning out his voice and looking unimpressed at the piece of technology between his fingers. He sighed, sliding his light brown leather bag off his back and putting his phone in it before taking out a little, baby blue notebook with a pen attached to it. He opened it and scribbled something on one of the pages, frown as apparent as ever on his face. He ripped the page out and put it in front of Changkyun on the table, looking him in the eyes.

“Here, in case you want something.” Kihyun slung his bag back on and left the room. Changkyun closed his eyes and sighed, slowly opening them and looking down at the piece of paper Kihyun left for him.

_An address?_

It was Saturday and like every Saturday Changkyun wasn’t at home like most of his classmates would be, but he was in the public library trying to finish the last few pages of _Kafka on the Shore_. He smiled as he finally reached the back of the book cover, sighed and got out his notebook where he keeps track of what he has read throughout the year.

"The library closes at 4pm today due to maintenance. In case you would like to borrow one of our books, please do so at least ten minutes before we close." The librarian's nasally voice sounded over the speakers and Changkyun hurried to write everything down that was floating in his head before he scrambled up and cradled the pile of books in his arms all the way to the counter where the librarian was sitting.

Changkyun looked down at the paper bag full of books as he left through the entrance door of the library and walked down the sidewalk in the scorching sun. "Should I read those at home..." he mumbled to himself. The sound of camera shutters made him perk up and his eyes caught not only the crowd of people at the end of the sidewalk but more importantly the big, crimson aurora in the sky that hung over the city and screamed in an angry red and orange.

"Oh my God, what is that?" he muttered to no one specifically.

Something in the middle of it reflected the sunlight and Changkyun squinted to try and figure out what it was, confusion written on his face. It came flying out of the aurora and the closer it got the more Changkyun realized that it was a crow. It flew over the roof of the houses, nobody else seemingly noticing the crow, and landed right in front of Changkyun on the hot pavement slabs.

_Huh, its legs..._

Instead of the crow having two feet like every normal one, it had three. Its beak was a dark red at the tip with black spaces in between. _It looks like a slice of watermelon._ The black feathers shimmering in a dark purple on its head were falling over its forehead like bangs. The crow looked at him and cawed loudly, startling Changkyun and resulting in him dropping his bag, books falling out of it and onto the pavement. He put a hand to the left side of his chest were his heart was pounding uncomfortably against his rib cage, taking deep breaths to help it calm down.

Changkyun bend forward, wanting to pick the bag up but the crow had other plans and hopped closer, snatching one of the books that fell out of the bag with its beak and flew away.

"No, wait!"

A few of the people who stood around him, glanced at him with a weird look. Changkyun hurriedly put the books back in the paper bag, not caring if the corners would get messed up, and ran after the crow when he spotted it over one of the roofs of the houses nearby, his backpack jostling around on his back.

_Where is that damn bird going?_

Changkyun had no idea for how long he was running until he saw that the crow was flying over the... _Bongwonsa Temple?_ He ran up the stairs, missed one of the steps and stumbled, but found his balance again before his face could meet the concrete. When he looked back up, he couldn't see the crow anymore and turned his head quickly in every direction. He was panting, his heart beating fast and sweat covering his forehead.

_Don't tell me I ran for absolutely nothing._

He let out a deep breath and sluggishly continued to walk up the stairs. The sun was already setting, and the temperatures dropped a little, streetlights turning on and tinting the temple in a warm yellow light. Just as he was about to give up, he saw the crow sitting on top of an arch. The crow dropped the book and flew away. Changkyun stepped forward and grabbed it, wiping the dust off of the cover, but as he was standing up the world around him started to shift. It looked like it was glitching, making space for a colorful intermediate world that was spinning around him. Changkyun stood in the center of hexagonal shaped rings.

_This feels like a bizarre acid trip._ Not that Changkyun knew what an acid trip would be like.

"What **–** " and it echoed, made it seem like a big empty space he was in that felt oppressive at the same time and heavy on Changkyun's shoulders. Fragments of memories that he didn't recognize hit him in sudden flashes.

A flash, a memory of a person writing in a notebook, looking a lot like scientific formulas, a bunch of nonsense really. A little figurine of a black crow sitting in front of the notebook.

Another flash and it was a memory of a white rat in a glass cube, cable connected to its head.

Another flash and that time it looked like a gigantic, glowing, silver ball under a huge microscope, a metal door blocking the access to the fuse box.

Another flash and it was a vest with a bunch of wires connected to it. It was steaming or smoking, little white clouds coming out of it.

A screen of a planning table, in each cell a date that was crossed off.

Changkyun gasped and blinked rapidly, a set of lights bounced off of the arches and he crossed his arms in front of his face, scared of them hitting him. The lights passed by him and Changkyun opened his eyes, growing in size as he watched the lights collide and twist around each other before white light came out of the middle of it.

He couldn't do anything other than stand there, frozen in his spot.

The white light seemed to explode, and the world was back to how it used to look like, a person dressed completely in white with the hood pulled over his head fell out of the ball of light face first onto the ground.

_I have lost it completely._

The person groaned as they scrambled to get up, hand rubbing the back of their head and hood covering their eyes. Changkyun stared at them because... _What are those blue shining lines on their coat?_ One moment they were there and then Changkyun blinked and it was as if he had imagined them.

"I... made it? I got in?" Their voice was deep.

The person contracted and relaxed their hands, as if they never had those, legs stomping lightly on the same spot. They crouched and yelled "I did it!", the black crow from earlier looked up at them from the floor. They stood up again, letting out another yell and the crow expanded its wings as if celebrating with the stranger before picking random seeds it found on the ground. The stranger gasped audibly and laughed with delight as they looked at their hands.

"It was successful! Yes! But... Bongwonsa Temple?"

They formed a circle with their forefinger and thumb, looking through it with one eye.

"It's off. Is the accuracy limited, or is it still glitching?" They were mumbling to themselves and Changkyun had absolutely no idea what to do. He stared, eyes wide, and slowly started moving backwards without making a sound.

_What the fuck? What in the absolute fuck? They haven't seen me yet. If I can just move quickly without them noticing_ **–**

Just as Changkyun was about to run away, the stranger turned around.

"Hey, what day is it today?"

Changkyun froze mid movement and blinked, his mouth opened multiple times, but it took him the fourth time to actually get some words out.

"The si-sixteenth **– "**

"Of course, he can't see me." they interrupted him. _Nope, I can see you very, very clearly and I'm low-key freaking out._

He startled when the stranger turned back around to look at him, as if it took them a double take to realize that Changkyun can in fact see them just fine. Changkyun watched as the smile on their face widened.

"Im Changkyun?"

_Yep, that's my cue to run._

Oh, and run he did. He ran as if his life depended on it.

"Please don't follow me!" he screamed, and he ran so fast that he could barely feel his legs hitting the pavement. He was panting, his lungs constricted in agony.

"Wait!"

When Changkyun turned his head to look over his shoulder he saw that stranger was following him, despite his efforts to keep them away.

"Hey, why are you running?" And if the situation wouldn't have been so serious, Changkyun would have snorted a laugh.

_Not the right time!_

Changkyun ran down to the entrance of the temple and crossed the street, the stranger still after him as he ran down and up the stairs to the train station, swiping his card on the ticket gates. There was a train about to drive off and Changkyun hurried into it without looking where it was going. He crouched over, put his hands on his knees and panted to get some air into his lungs. He could feel the train moving underneath his feet. The people sitting inside gave him strange and confused glances, and when he looked out of the window, he saw the stranger still standing outside.

He sighed as relief washed over him.

__

By the time Changkyun got out of the train and walked up the stairs to get out of the station, the moon already had replaced the sun in the sky. He shivered and rubbed his hands over his exposed arms to warm himself up since he hadn’t planned to stay out for so long and only wore a t-shirt. The light that was turned on in the store next to him shone through the big windows and illuminated the side of the street he was standing at. As he walked down the sidewalk and past a pillar, he caught a figure dressed in white from the corner of his eye. He immediately stopped in his track and slowly turned around.

“It’s really convenient.” They still had their hood pulled over their head, so Changkyun couldn’t look them in the eyes. He had no idea if the person was even looking at him.

“What?” Changkyun asked confused and furrowed his brows.

“Teleporting.” The stranger sighed, put their fingers in a circle again and looked through it. A calendar opened out of nowhere, three circles connected to each other. The big one was showing today’s day, the smaller one next to it the month and year and the one on top of the big one a number. Changkyun squinted.

_Friday, April 16 th, 2027. 078… days?_

“Three months before the incident, perfect.” When the stranger was done checking the date, he took his hand down and the calendar disappeared as fast as it appeared. Changkyun wasn’t having it.

“I’ll call the police. Please, for the love of God, stop _following_ –“ The words got stuck in his throat when he saw a child walk through the stranger and stare at him with wide eyes, outline of his body glowing a bright blue. Changkyun opened and closed his mouth without making sounds. The child stopped for another second before he continued to walk in a fast pace, shoulders up to his ears and grabbing the straps of his backpack with a tight grip.

_Scare little children, why don’t you, Changkyun._

Changkyun’s head turned and he looked after the boy before deadpanning and turning back to the stranger.

_"Of course, he can't see me."_

_He can’t… see me?_

Changkyun carefully glanced up at the stranger and started to freak out a little. “Who the hell are you?” he said slowly, breath shaky as he blinked.

“I’ll tell you, whether you like it or not.” Changkyun looked at their face but the top half of it was still covered, only their nose and mouth visible, hair falling in bangs over their eyes, or at least where their eyes were supposed to be. “I’ll tell you who I really am…” He narrowed his eyes and despite everything in his body screaming at him to just get away as fast as his feet could carry him, he took a tentative step forward to get a better look. When he tried to look up their hood, the only thing he could see was a dark shadow covering their eyes, line around the shadow glowing bright blue.

_This is not terrifying at all._

The stranger paused for a few seconds before they continued to talk. “And I will tell you who you really are, Im Changkyun.” and their creepy smile widened.

Changkyun gasped as he sat up in his bed, chest heaving rapidly, trying to get air into his lungs. His bangs were sticking to his sweat covered forehead. His blanket was kicked off the bed, lying on the ground and his room was dark but he could tell that it was already the early morning hours and not the middle of the night.

_I’m okay, it was just a dream. I’m fine._

He sighed and swung his legs over the edge of the bed before he stood up, yawn pushing tears to his eyes and momentarily blurring his vision as he pulled his curtains open to let the sunlight through. He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut when the light blinded him and when he opened them again, he saw a black, mutated crow with a red beak sitting right in front of him on the railing of his balcony.

_You’ve got to be kidding me._

Changkyun stared at it unimpressed, arms still held out to keep the curtains open and then closed his eyes slowly, taking a deep breath and opened them again.

_Nope, it’s still there._

He startled when the crow expanded its wings and cawed, flying against the window and hitting the glass repeatedly with its beak. Changkyun stepped away from the window, holding his hands against his ear to shut out the loud sound.

“Stop! Stop it!”

Changkyun quickly realized that he had no other choice but to let that bird in, watching it land on the back of his desk chair and look at him expectantly. Rolling his eyes, he got ready for his day, it wasn’t even 7am yet, but he didn’t see a point in getting back into bed, especially not with that thing in his room. Not only was it obnoxious but also impatient cause it didn’t hesitate to hop all the way into the bathroom where Changkyun was getting ready and caw at him.

“Fine!” he groaned as he did the bare minimum and put his shoes on in the entry, grabbed his backpack and followed the crow that squeezed through the little slit when he opened the front door.

__

Not too much time passed when he arrived at his supposed destination, a familiar figure standing in front of the building.

“You came!”

“I didn’t really have a choice, did I?” Changkyun looked at the crow flying in circles above their heads.

“You are free today anyway, it’s not like you have something better to do.”

“How would you know? Just because it’s a Sunday it doesn’t mean I’m not busy, thanks.”

The stranger seemingly ignored him completely and turned around to walk down the path leading to the entrance of the building. Changkyun couldn’t resist groaning before he scoffed and followed them. The building was huge. Very old and vintage looking, painted a pale yellow and supported by countless pillars that once used to be white, the black banner next to the entrance reading _Seoul Historical Records Center_ in white Hangul.

They got into the packed elevator that was filled to the brim with guests, the little orange and yellow name tags attached to their shirts said so, and a woman and a guy dressed in white lab coats. Changkyun had one of those attached to his own shirt. He took off his backpack and cradled it in his arms, glaring at the glass doors.

_AL-ONE._

When Changkyun’s eyes wandered to his reflection in the glass doors he saw, well… that the stranger who was standing right behind him all the time wasn’t visible in the reflection. He turned around to look at them and saw someone, a guest, standing _inside_ of them, guy completely oblivious to what Changkyun was seeing and he quickly turned around, facing the front. The group he had joined was led down the stairs.

“Seven years ago, in 2020, a joint project was initiated between Deltaa, Seoul National University and Seoul, the Chronicle Seoul was born.”

They walked past a big screen on the wall that showed the three involved parties in a triangle relationship. As the woman was talking, Changkyun looked around, observing his surroundings. The entire interior was really modern and sleek. Lots of glass and polished, very shiny cream-colored floors. They walked past people sitting on a bench, looking at screens, another woman in a white lab coat explaining something to them while pointing at the maps displayed on the screens.

“You are all familiar with Deltaa, the biggest web company in the world. Their mapping services are now an indispensable part of our lives.” The little group walked up to a big cube with a glass case on top, displaying a yellow hologram of the city. “2D maps will be converted to 3D to achieve greater detail.”

Changkyun watched as the hologram in front of him switched to a 3D one and he leaned in to get a closer look, thumb on his chin as he hummed. _Details indeed, wow._

“They can even go back in time and preserve the history of any city in any time period. That’s what the Chronicle Seoul project is all about.”

The stranger suddenly appeared next to Changkyun and he flinched, glancing over at them as they started speaking.

“At least on the surface.” They said with a small smile.

The group made their way further down the hallway and stopped in front of a laboratory, bold grey letters on the top left corner of the glass indicating it. Looking inside Changkyun saw scientists. A few of them were sitting at desks facing the glass with huge tablets in front of them, probably analyzing data. Two other scientists stood a bit farther away working on drones. The stranger’s voice reached his ears when they were talking again.

“Compiling unlimited, comprehensive data of the city requires huge amounts of memory.”

Changkyun watched as a drone flew past the scientists in the laboratory, a guy with glasses, a bright pink shirt and green cargo shorts entering through the backdoor. On his head was a headband with… _are those glowing antennas? Oh God._

The scientists looked up and bowed slightly at him, mumbling something but otherwise looking completely unimpressed, some of them wearing a hint of an amused smile on their faces. Changkyun frowned.

_Is that… Thomas the Tank Engine on his shirt also wearing glowing antennas? You know what, I won’t question it anymore._

The woman who was guiding the group through the Historical Records Center spoke up again, weirdly enough continuing right where the stranger left off.

“But the progress of Deltaa’s quantum computer project and Seoul National University’s new theory made it possible.”

Changkyun glanced at the Stranger that was watching the guy inside the laboratory, who looked nothing like a scientist, with a smile on their face. They turned around, followed the group and Changkyun looked after him, glancing back to the laboratory before he did the same thing. They stopped in front of a gigantic, glowing, silver ball under a huge microscope, it was surrounded by a little metal fence, glass dome around it keeping it safe from unauthorized people. The sudden realization that he had seen this exact image before in a memory that wasn’t his caused him to gape at it.

“This technology is made possible by ALPHA-ONE, or short AL-ONE, a quantum memory device with an unlimited capacity.” Changkyun let his eyes wander over the curved letters on the top of the ball.

“Let’s go.” The stranger next to him said.

“Huh?” He turned to look at them, but they were already walking out of the room. “Wait!” He reached out with his hand, momentarily forgetting that the other people standing around him couldn’t see nor hear the stranger and he just talked out loud, looking like an absolute maniac. He hastily put an arm up to catch the woman’s attention although she was already looking at him. “Excuse me, there’s something– I have to leave!” He bowed quickly and ran after the stranger.

When Changkyun found him, it was in a corridor surrounded by pillars and arches, sunlight shining through them and illuminating the whole place. The pillars threw shades over the tiled floor. The stranger was standing under an arch, holding their hand up into the air and forming a circle again.

“We have no time, let’s take the bus.”

“Where are we going?” Changkyun asked.

“Han River.” The stranger looked over at him, hand still up in the air. “Check the route.”

Changkyun took out his phone and said “Travel to Han River” out loud. His phone immediately showed him the closest route on how to get there.

__

He swiped his card and they got on the bus, Changkyun holding onto the handles on the top to not fall over. He looked at his phone, watching the arrow follow the blue line leading to their destination.

“So, is Chronicle Seoul the enhanced version of this map?” Changkyun asked and pointed to his screen.

The stranger hummed but kept looking out of the window, watching the city pass them in a blur. “Right, but exponentially. The memory device, AL-ONE, has unlimited capacity. It’s not just ‘enhanced’. I can’t tell you how big it is. Hundred million… A trillion maybe…”

“I can’t even imagine that.”

Changkyun startled when the man standing behind him side eyed him and cleared his throat. He apologized and bowed with a tight-lipped smile. _Of course, they think I’m insane and talking to myself when they can’t see them, ugh._

The bus stopped at their stop and they got off. The stranger was walking ahead. “Run, our time is tight!” Changkyun groaned in response. _Too. Much. Cardio._

They made it down to the river, drones flying over them in a big flock.

“Did we make it?” The stranger looked at the river and Changkyun grabbed one of his backpack straps.

“There’s nothing here.”

“No, there is.” Changkyun looked at him confused. “A very memorable event took place here.”

Changkyun’s frown intensified and as if that gave it the cue, he heard a loud buzzing sound getting louder and louder. He looked up just in time to see one of the drones flying right towards him. His eyes widened but before he could even think of raising his arms to protect his face, it was already too late.

_Ouch._

He kneeled on the floor, one hand holding his upper body up. He held his right hand to the spot on his forehead that was throbbing, backpack pressing into his neck uncomfortably while he was crouching forward. Changkyun squeezed his eyes shut in pain and opened them to find a drop of blood on the pavement right underneath him.

“In 2020, Chronicle Seoul’s true purpose was initiated in secret. Recording devices were planted all over Seoul, so AL-ONE could chronicle every detail of the city.”

Changkyun narrowed his eyes and glanced up, looking directly at the broken drone lying in front of him, camera in the middle tinted a pale, dark green. _It looks like an eye. So much for observing._ He shivered slightly.

“April 17th, 2027. Im Changkyun was going to read a book on the riverbank when he was hit by a falling drone. That’s ‘historical data’.” The stranger walked closer and pointed at the broken drone. Changkyun sat up some more.

“Historical?”

“This is the ‘old Seoul’ as recorded by AL-ONE, the recorded past of Seoul. You are the ‘old Im Changkyun’ as recorded by AL-ONE. And I’m accessing AL-ONE from the real world.”

The stranger grabbed the front of his hood and pulled it up, vibrant blue line following the movement and materializing the stranger’s top half of their face in front of him. They looked down at Changkyun and his eyes widened. He froze completely and _stared_ at the scar over the stranger’s right eyebrow, the exact same spot where Changkyun was hit by the falling drone in the face mere minutes ago.

“Im Changkyun, ten years from now.”

Changkyun moved his right hand off his face, feeling the warm blood running down his temple.

“Me… ten years from now?” His voice was barely audible.

The older Changkyun came even closer.

“I know everything about you, because you’re me and I am you. I know. That’s why I’m here.” He squatted down to be on the same eye level as Changkyun, gaze serious. Changkyun stared at him expectantly, right hand held in front of him and covered in blood. “I’m here because I know that you desperately want a boyfriend."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inserted passages are from Haruki Murakami’s _Kafka on the Shore_ (No, I haven't read the book)


	2. Closer

“I just can’t believe it. Imagine a drone falling on you.”

Changkyun sighed as he let his head fall back against the wall. “Don’t really have to imagine it, do I, mom?” He felt a thumb touching his chin and his head tipped forward. He hissed at the stinging pain the antiseptic caused.

“I informed the ward office.” She put a band-aid on the fresh wound. “There you go.”

Changkyun smiled small. “Don’t worry about it. And thanks, mom.” He got up and walked out of her office, closing the door behind him before walking into his room. Changkyun wasn’t even surprised to see his older self standing in the middle of it, crow sitting on his shoulder as he observed his bookshelf.

“I remember buying this.” He mumbled and chuckled softly, pointing at a random book Changkyun hasn’t touched in years.

“Are you really the ‘future me’?” The older version of him turned around to face him, his smile was small.

“Our heights are different.” _Pointing out the obvious here, as if I don’t have to look up to look him in the eyes… Or look me in the eyes? Uh…_ Changkyun hummed in response and his older version put his left hand to his head. “You’ll grow a lot more. I actually use an avatar for access, but I can change my appearance to whatever I want.” He snapped his fingers and his left hand disappeared with a blue, purplish light. Where a split-second ago was his hand was now a claw from a claw machine.

_Seems like… a necessary skill._

Changkyun walked to his desk chair and turned it around before he plopped down, his front facing the back of his chair. He snapped his fingers absently.

“Is it true that everything in this world is recorded data?”

“It’s true, but don’t take my word for it. This world is a perfect duplicate of reality. This is real. This is data. Even if we switched places, you wouldn’t be able to notice the difference. It’s meaningless to try.”

“If you say so. I guess I have no choice but to believe you, hm?” Changkyun let his eyes wander from the person in front of him to the floor.

“You’re adapting quickly.”

Changkyun looked to the side, not really consciously perceiving anything. “It’s like from a science fiction novel. But then, if that world, the real world, is the same, why did you come here?”

“I said it earlier, but I’ll say it again.” The older Changkyun snapped his fingers and the crow on his right shoulder expanded its wings, flying up a little and then floating on the same spot in the air before flying against a box sitting on the top of his bookshelf. Before Changkyun could even realize what was happening, the box fell to the ground and a bunch of magazines he wasn’t really proud of fell out of it. He scrambled out of his chair and onto the floor to get everything back into the box, face flaming in a bright red. “To ease the pain of your adolescent suffering.”

“This doesn’t seem like easing any suffering to me!” Changkyun hissed at him.

The older Changkyun ignored him and chuckled. “Or in other words, to get you a boyfriend.”

“Did you study for today’s class?”

“Not much, I’m afraid.”

Changkyun sighed as he shoved his face closer to the book in his hands. It was their small break between Korean History and English. He was trying really hard to concentrate on the words in front of him, but it was too noisy in the classroom. He peeked over the top of his book and stared at Chaewon who was giggling a few desks away. Changkyun hid behind his book again. From the corner of his eye he could see two of his classmates throwing a sports bag at each other. After failing again to focus on the written words, his eyes wandered to Kihyun sitting at his desk at the other end of the room by the window. _Oh, he is reading, too…_

“Over here! Pass!” one of the boys yelled out.

_You are kind of staring._

“Cut it out!” yelled the other one. The game between those two seemed to escalate and Changkyun flinched when the bag flew across the room and hit the window next to Kihyun, only a few centimeters away from his face.

“Oops, I’m so sorry.” one of them apologized.

The entire class turned around to look at Kihyun and the two boys froze in their spot. Changkyun watched in awe when Kihyun was completely unbothered and continued to flip through his pages as if nothing had happened. Changkyun was still looking over the rim of his book and his left eyebrow twitched.

__

A few hours later it was lunch break and Changkyun went down the stairs to see a crowd of students in front of the little cafeteria window. He stood by the corner of the wall and peeked over. Kihyun was standing at the very back, everyone else towering over him. He made his way through the crowd, uncaring of whom he was pushing to the side. The crowd split in two to let him walk through and stared at him. He looked at the food displayed in front of him and pointed to the cinnamon twists with his right forefinger.

“One of those, please!”

__

Changkyun knew he should have done something because by the time it was his turn, he was left with the same thing as last time. It seemed like he and Kihyun were the only students in that entire school who ate those things.

When he was about to step back into the classroom he stopped by the door, left hand holding onto the door frame as he watched the girls from last time not on his but Kihyun’s chair. Kihyun stood in front of them with the brown paper bag in his hands, face emotionless.

Hyejin was deep in conversation with her friends. “But Youngjae is–“

“That’s my seat.” Kihyun interrupted her.

Hyejin paused to look up at him from where she was sitting. “Oh, of course. Sorry.” She immediately got up and they moved to another place. She bowed her head apologetically at him. Kihyun just sat down without saying anything and ate, cinnamon twist in one hand, book in the other.

__

Changkyun was walking down one of the hallways in his schools and passed by the library. He paused a second to look through the window. Kihyun was sitting at the counter of the library, reading his book with a frown between his eyebrows. He flipped through the pages back and forth, dissatisfied look on his face. There was a line of students in front of him who were waiting to borrow their books, but no one was saying anything, totally scared of him. Changkyun scoffed.

The crow appeared next to him and flew against the back of his head to push him back to the library entrance. He stumbled and held a hand to his head.

“That– Just you wait, my friend!” he turned around and crouched down to chase the crow that was hopping away from him. The students around him standing in the hallway gave him strange looks. Changkyun ran after the crow into the boy’s restroom. He rounded the corner and halted when he saw his older version.

“Why the rest–“ The older him put a finger to his lips and shushed him. Changkyun closed his mouth and watched as another student came out of one of the toilet stalls. He walked through the older Changkyun to the sink to wash his hands. Changkyun could feel how awkward the situation was with him just standing there in the middle of the restroom without doing anything. The other boy didn’t dry his hands, he just waved them around and looked at him as he was walking out. Changkyun smiled awkwardly. The crow flew onto the older Changkyun’s shoulder.

“It would be weird if you were talking to yourself.”

“Thanks for your concern, I guess. Didn’t seem to bother you before…”

His older self lifted up his hand to his right shoulder to let the crow nibble on his finger. “So, did you see him?”

“Yes, but–“

“Really?” His eyes suddenly looked excited. Changkyun narrowed his eyes.

“Yes… but is it true?”

“You have to stop asking that. It is. Three months from now you will start going out with Yoo Kihyun.”

Changkyun deadpanned and his shoulders slumped forward.

“What’s with that face?”

“Nothing, just…” Changkyun picked himself up. “Kihyun isn’t really my type. He’s like a proud wolf who will snap my head off if I get too close. I prefer… the cute type of girls or boys.”

“You kind of insulted my taste just now, I will try not to be offended.”

Changkyun narrowed his eyes again. “That doesn’t make any sense, we are literally the same person. I am you and you are me, I thought we had established that already.”

“You don’t have a type, believe me.”

“How would you–“ Changkyun spoked without thinking and paused, adding a quiet ‘know’. _Right._ His old self smirked at him.

“Listen, I know you don’t like him. Right now, at least, you don’t. And not in that way–“

“Oh, he can read my mind now. Are you a mind reader?” _Maybe he was getting too annoyed._

“I’m not Edward Cullen.”

“Twilight? Seriously?”

“Okay, offense taken.”

Changkyun’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead, eyes accusingly as he scoffed. “As you should!”

“It’s Minhyuk’s fault.” His older version defended.

“Who’s Minhyuk?”

“Your best friend in the future. He was that obnoxiously dressed guy back in the Seoul Historical Records Center, if you remember. He developed an obsession for the movies. Boring days at the lab, I guess.”

“Fucking hell…” Changkyun muttered under his breath.

“Can–“ Older Changkyun held the bridge of his nose. “Can we move on? This talk isn’t getting us anywhere. Kihyun is in fact very cute, you just haven’t seen that side of him, yet.”

“Sorry, are we talking about the same Kihyun?”

“Yes, we are!” His old self swatted at him and Changkyun took a step back when he was making wild gestures with his hands, arms going everywhere. “Are you sure you aren’t mistaking him for someone else?”

“I should be the one asking you that.”

“You know what, forget it. I’ll go see for myself. To the library, come on.” He was already halfway out of the restroom when he turned around and pointed a finger at him accusingly. “And remember, no talking!” The crow on his shoulder cawed in agreement.

Changkyun was about to open his mouth his mouth but he already disappeared through the wall. He sighed and walked back to the library. Changkyun found him waiting at the glass doors. He walked through them and Changkyun grumbled before he pushed the door to walk in. They stopped next to a bookshelf.

He brought his hand up to his mouth and pointed at Kihyun sitting at the counter. “See, it’s him, right?” _You weren’t supposed to talk._ He glanced at Kihyun and continued, nonetheless. “I wouldn’t mistake him. We are in the same commit–“

Changkyun looked up at the older version of him because he wasn’t saying anything and startled when he saw him looking at Kihyun, eyes and mouth wide and tears running down his face. He moved his hand down slowly and his eyebrows went up in concern.

__

Changkyun took him to a quiet place which was the rooftop of the school. The sun was setting, and everything was tinted a pretty pink, sky still partly blue with a few clouds. They were surrounded by solar panels, on their right a huge wall with lots of windows. The last rays of sun of the day reflected off of them.

The older Changkyun was standing on the edge of the rooftop, looking straight ahead, hood pulled up. Changkyun stood next to him and his stomach squeezed uncomfortably at the sight of him standing so close to the edge.

“The accident happened soon after we started dating. We were at the fireworks festival when lightning struck a tree. He was right next to it…”

Older Changkyun looked down and pictures started pushing in front of his eyes.

_Changkyun holding Kihyun in his arms at the fireworks festival. Brown hair falling in waves over his forehead, flower tucked behind his ear, eyelashes fanning over his cheeks and creating shadows on them. He looked almost peaceful if it weren’t for the scratches and spots of dirt on his face and clothes._

He breathed in slowly. “He never opened his eyes again after that.” Changkyun opened his mouth to say something but the words didn’t want to come out. He watched as the other one put his hands in his coat pockets.

“I’m here to manipulate the past.”

“Manipulate?”

“Rewrite the past, the record three months from now and prevent the accident. If he’s alive, it will become the source of a reaction and relevant data will rewrite itself as well. ‘The world in which Yoo Kihyun lives’ will be recorded in AL-ONE’s memory.”

“Then, and don’t get me wrong, will it mean anything?” Changkyun directed his eyes at his boots. “Even if Kihyun is alive in AL-ONE’s memory…”

“He won’t exist in the real world.” He finished Changkyun’s sentence.

Changkyun looks up at him. “Then, why?”

He paused for a while and bit his bottom lip. “We just started going out. We hadn’t gone anywhere yet. We had no memories. Not even one photo. I just want one thing, to see his smile, his happy smile. I want a record, a memory, of that. Even if it doesn’t exist in the real world, even if it doesn’t belong to me.”

It suddenly started to get dark rather quickly as if setting the tone for this talk, they were having. Changkyun blinked at him, hummed and watched as he hopped down the edge of the roof. He walked closer to Changkyun and moved his arm forward to touch his arm. Changkyun looked down to see his hand glowing blue and going through it.

“But I can’t do anything.” He said softly. “As an avatar, I can’t touch anything in this world. I’m powerless.”

Changkyun furrowed his brows and looked at a random spot on the other’s coat, eyes not really focusing on it. He felt sorry for him. _Sorry for himself? Ugh._

“Can you help me?” Changkyun swiftly looked up, waving his hands in front of his body.

“But I… But I still don’t know anything… I don’t even know Kihyun that well.” He noticed how the clouds moved and the last few rays of sunshine slowly disappeared. “I can’t even imagine dating him.” He clenched his fist. “But… of course, I’d love to date a boy as pretty as him. If I can prevent the accident, I’d like to help…” He smiled at his older self. “Um, what should I call you?”

The other one looked at him before closing his eyes shortly and smiling back, he opened them again. “You can call me Professor Im.” He held out his right hand and Changkyun took it, or not really because it just went through his.

“Oh, ha ha, so funny. I see my sense of humor hasn’t improved in the slightest. That’s tragic.”

Professor Im snorted and shrugged. “Just pretend it’s formality.”

“Professor Im it is.”

He hummed. “I will teach you everything. I’m ten years older, after all.”

“But how can I help? I’m pretty useless. You should know that.”

Professor Im smiled and shook his head. “You are no longer powerless. You have me.” And as if on cue the crow came flying up next to them. It flew closer and landed on Changkyun’s right hand, claws closing around his fingers. “And this one here.” Professor Im added mid chuckle.

Changkyun watched as the crow brought up its wings in front of itself, hiding its head in it before it started spinning insanely fast around his hand, glowing in a bright white light. He screamed, squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them again, he saw a few dark purple, glowing feathers swinging in the air to make their way down on to the rooftop floor, a few specks of purple around him that sparkled.

Looking at his hand his eyes widened because in place of his hand was now what looked like a hologram of his hand, shining a bright blue with purple spots here and there, ripples going out from his palm to the outside of his hand making it look like water. When he pushed his sleeve up to his elbow, he saw that it ended right under his wrist, oddly enough looking like a well-fitting glove. And oddly enough, Changkyun wasn’t freaking out. Not anymore, at least. He huffed and the left corner of his lip pulled up.

“Interesting.” Changkyun pondered. “Hey, does this little guy around my hand have a name?”

“It’s a girl. She is called Nebula.”

Changkyun frowned. “What, like the eye disorder?”

Professor Im barked a laugh. “Yes, but also no. The nebula I was referring to is more like a giant cloud of dust and gas in space. It comes from the explosion of a dying star. They sometimes serve as a region where new stars form.”

Changkyun blinked slowly.

“Sorry, science ramble. I don’t know, I thought it was pretty name.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Changkyun pouted and looked down at his hand again.

_It is._

The alarm on Changkyun’s nightstand read 05:59am when he pulled his backpack over his back, sleeves of his black hoodie pulled up to his elbows. He quietly moved out of his room and put his shoes on in the entrance. He tried to open the front door as quiet as possible but squeezed his eyes shut when he heard his mom.

“Changkyun?”

He winced and hurried out of the door. “I’m leaving!”

The sun was barely up, fog hanging over the city and world tinted in a soft blue when he made his way into the forest nearby. He went deeper into it and followed the path until he saw Professor Im. Changkyun walked up to the tree logs lying next to the path and let his backpack down on them.

_Special training, that’s what Professor Im had called it. Exciting. Wouldn’t mind it being a bit later in the day. 6am just seems a tad too gruesome._

Professor Im stood a few feet away next to a tree, arms crossed and his face serious as he was explaining. Changkyun was kneeling on the soil with his right knee, feeling the moisture seep into his pants. His left arm was resting on his left thigh as he put his right hand with the holographic glove onto the moist soil.

“Imagine the outcome. As realistically as possible. Imagine something simple. Plastic, rubber, paper… Use your mind.” Professor Im instructed.

Changkyun closed his eyes as he imagined a bottle cap. _Small, not too big, simple enough._ As Changkyun tried to imagine it clearly, the soil underneath his hand glowed in a soft bluish, purplish hue, radius small at first but growing bigger the clearer the image in his head became.

“Grab it!” yelled Professor Im and Changkyun made a grabbing motion with his hand, fingers digging into the soil like butter. He opened his eyes.

The glow got brighter and brighter. He squinted his eyes, tiny specks of light floating up into the air and away from Changkyun, dissipating soon enough. When the glow calmed down and Changkyun was able to look at his hand again without feeling like his eyes were burning off, he lifted his hand up and saw, to his surprise, a blue bottle cap.

“I did it!” _Wow._

Professor Im walked up to him, arms still crossed. “It’s called God’s Hand.” Changkyun picked up the bottle cap to get a closer look. “A device that can directly access AL-ONE’s data and rewrite the world itself.” Professor Im uncrossed his arms and held up his hand, palm facing up.

“Turn water into air.” And there was indeed water running through the spaces between his fingers and down into the soil. He squatted down in front of Changkyun and hovered his hand above the soil, moving his hand from left to right and gems appearing. “Dirt into gemstones.” He stood up again and put his fingers together, cutting through the air with his arm in an octagonal shape. “Void into matter.” A stop sign materialized next to him. “It’s an illusion.” Professor Im grabbed the stop sign by the pole and pointed it at Changkyun. He flinched and backed away but relaxed when he realized that Professor Im didn’t hit him with it. “As an avatar I have limited access within AL-ONE, but God’s Hand has physical access.”

Changkyun lifted his gloved hand to touch the stop sign and watched with his mouth wide open how his hand went through the sign. Professor Im lifted it back up and held it next to him. “It can touch and even intervene.” Changkyun looked at the glove. “Use this glove effectively, and illusion will become reality.”

“So, I can do anything?”

Professor Im started spinning the stop sign. _Okay, now he is just showing off._

“In theory, yeah. However, there are rules.” He threw the sign up, snapped his fingers and the sign dematerialized. Professor Im crouched down, hand over the soil and brought it up, pulling a whiteboard out of literally nowhere. Changkyun sat down on the soil since there was no hope of saving his pants anyway and pulled his legs up to his chest, resting his arms on his knees.

“You can only rewrite something the glove actually touches. You can’t create something from a distance.” He snapped his fingers and little drawings appeared on the whiteboard, visualizing what he was explaining. “You can create things spatially, too. Processing speed depends on the volume of information. It’s easy to manipulate simple structures like water. Complex structures take more time and are harder to visualize. Metals or the four elements? Easy. Technology? Not so much. The hardest thing to manipulate is a living organism. Where is almost all the data in a human body stored?”

“The brain?”

Professor Im nodded. “The human mind is densely packed with information. Even God’s Hand can’t manipulate that.”

“So, you can’t rewrite a people’s mind or feelings?”

“Right. So, my job will be this.” Professor Im reached into the inside of his coat, pulled out a blue notebook and held it up for Changkyun to see.

“…Ultimate Manual?”

__

Changkyun tightened his grip around the handles at the top of the bus when it turned the corner. His left hand was occupied with a cup of coffee he sipped on, earphones in his ears to make it seem like he’s on a phone call and not talking to himself.

“ _April 20 th, I got on the bus and headed to the Starfield Library to check out a book. Something happened that day that brought us together a little closer._” Professor Im read out of the manual.

“In other words, if I do exactly what you did, Kihyun and I will be together… Isn’t it better if I don’t do anything and just leave things alone?”

“Revision of data was initiated the minute you and I met. No one knows what would happen if I let you do anything you want. You may get off track. We need to be proactive about keeping it in sync.”

Changkyun’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance and he sighed.

“Leave it to me.” Professor Im closed the notebook and wiggled it around in his hand. “Just do exactly what the book says. The future is written here. It’s the perfect manual.”

“What should I do, Professor?”

“Take your book out.”

Changkyun was confused but didn’t question it further and let the handle go to get his book out of his backpack, struggling to do so because his other hand was still holding his cup of coffee.

“Open it.”

Changkyun opened the book.

“Now, drop it.”

He let it fall to the ground and it slid a little to the side when the bus was turning again.

“Um…”

“Pick it up.”

Changkyun crouched down to pick the book up and stood up again. “Why would he–“ he mumbled but cut himself off when the bus shook and he lost his balance, remembering that he wasn’t holding onto the handle anymore. In a poor try to stabilize himself, he put his arms in front of him and fell against a person when the bus shook again, coffee cup crushing in his grip and spilling all over the person’s shirt. He looked up right into Kihyun’s face, his hand around the pole tightening, frown getting more apparent and the glares he was throwing at Changkyun sent shivers down his spine.

The bus stopped at their stop and Professor Im, Changkyun and Kihyun got off, bus driving away. Kihyun continued to glare directly in his eyes. Changkyun opened his mouth, ready to apologize when Kihyun huffed and rolled his eyes, turning around to leave. Professor Im crossed his arms next to him, satisfied smile on his face.

“Nice!”

“That’s not nice at all! How is that nice? He likes me even less now!”

Professor Im lifted up his hand to make Changkyun shut up and pointed at something on the floor. “Calm down, this was a necessary step.”

__

It was the next day in the school’s library that Changkyun saw Kihyun sitting at a table reading a book. He swallowed and took a deep breath before approaching him.

“Um, Kihyun…”

Kihyun looked up and he was frowning again. _Stupid frown._

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry about yesterday. I lost my balance. I swear, I didn’t mean to spill my coffee all over you.” He bit his bottom lip and remembered the thing in the front pocket of his hoodie. “I picked this up at the bus stop. I think you accidentally dropped it.” Changkyun held up a bookmark. It was cute. A pale-yellow color with little foxes at the bottom, tassel at the top white. Kihyun’s eyes visibly softened.

“I was looking for that.” He closed his book and got up from his chair to walk up to Changkyun. “I’m sorry for not listening to you. I should have let you explain.” Kihyun gave him a small bow but Changkyun immediately fumbled with his hands.

“No, no, it’s my fault! You shouldn’t apologize, it’s okay.” Changkyun handed him the bookmark and Kihyun took it with both of his hands, eyes on it before he looked up at Changkyun.

“Thank you.”

Changkyun scratched the back of his neck. “No problem, really.” And he smiled small.

__

Professor Im stood in front of a window in one of the school hallways. He closed the diary and smiled, holding his elbow up when he saw Nebula flying closer. He looked at her softly when she landed on his forearm. Professor Im watched as the process bar on her neck turned from green to red as the number went up and nodded approvingly. Deciding to pay Changkyun a visit, he teleported himself to him.

They were standing in the library and watched as Kihyun left.

“Did we get a bit closer?” Changkyun mumbled.

Professor Im hummed. “A bit. There’s no rush, love has just begun.”

And the corners of Changkyun’s mouth split into a grin all by themselves.

__

Changkyun was sitting on his desk chair, his left leg bent and sitting on it while reading a book when his phone vibrated. He read the message on his phone and then glanced at the calendar pasted on the wall next to him. He frowned.

_If I send it out today, he would still get it before Monday._

Professor Im appeared behind him, smiling and Nebula sitting on his forearm. Nebula was holding a brown envelope in her beak. The letter was still open and not sealed yet when Changkyun grabbed it. Opening the letter, he read what was written in it.

__

Monday came sooner than Changkyun wanted. He was sitting in the meeting room with the other members of the committee and took his rug out of his backpack. Kihyun did the same and noticed that Changkyun was looking at him, so he bowed his head slightly in a silent ‘Thank you’.

Later that day when he got home and opened his mailbox, he found to his surprise a letter in a pale-yellow envelope with a red wax seal in it. The letter was from Kihyun. He took it with him and went inside to his room to open the letter.

Right in that moment, Changkyun thought that it was humanly possible to explode without an external influence. He may or may not had discovered that all it took was a little sleeping fox at the bottom right corner of the letter, which upon further inspection suspiciously looked like Kihyun drew it, to send his heart into an absolute turmoil inside his ribcage.

_Liking? Maybe. Fondness? Definitely. Feels a lot like affection, too..._

Changkyun pouted and his eyes turned soft. And if Changkyun kept the letter at the bottom of his drawer for years on end, then that’s only for him to know. He was oddly happy, his chest filled with warmth as he smiled.

Professor Im was standing on his balcony with Nebula, watching him through the window before he focused his eyes on the process bar on Nebula’s neck that filled up more.

__

He was sitting at the counter in the library and reading his book. The day had been pretty calm and quiet. He glanced up at the students sitting at the table a few meters away. They were talking to each other and eating. Changkyun bit his bottom lip when he saw Kihyun walking up to their table and lowered his book.

Kihyun was glaring at them and holding his book to his chest with one arm. The glare alone seemed to be enough to scare the students and they hurried to clean the crumbs off the tabletop before leaving the library. Changkyun blinked at Kihyun and lifted his book to hide his smile, trying to keep the laugh in that was bubbling in his chest.

_Feisty. Wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that glare either._

After they left, Kihyun sat back down behind the other end of the counter. They didn’t talk after that, the few hours they had left there seemed to pass in an instant and the next time Changkyun looked at the big clock on the wall it was already 5pm. He glanced up to see that no other student was in the library and looked over to Kihyun.

“I think it’s time to go home.”

Kihyun looked at him and nodded before standing up to pack his stuff into his backpack with a pout. Glancing at Changkyun, he tilted his head in a silent question.

_He looks so cute in his yellow cardigan._

Changkyun sighed and locked the door to the library before they both left the school. He was walking with Kihyun without talking much. It was when Kihyun went left to stand under the bus stop that Changkyun spoke up again.

“I’m going this way.” He pointed straight ahead. Kihyun turned around to him, one hand around one of the straps of his leather backpack.

“Huh, but we were on the same bus that day. Aren’t we going in the same direction?”

“No, um… I was going to the Starfield Library that time. They had a book I’ve been wanting to read for the longest time. Changkyun smiled softly at him.

“Oh.” He directed his eyes down onto the pavement. “I see.” He looked Changkyun back in the eyes and he dwelled for a few more second even when his bus had already arrived before he turned around to get on it. He stopped again at the door and looked over his shoulder. “I go there to read as well. Every month.”

Changkyun gave him a surprised look and even though the bus doors were closing, Kihyun’s eyes lingered on his. And maybe, just maybe, right before the doors closed completely, Changkyun saw a hint of Kihyun’s smile directed at him.

The bus drove off and his cheeks got warm, the corners of his lips moved up as if they had a life of their own. Changkyun let out a breath and held onto that warm feeling in his chest. He took the little card out of his pocket.

“ _Kihyun asks about the bus ride the other day. Say you went to the library for a book.”_

He bit down on his lip when the smile turned into a grin to at least get it somewhat under control before he put the card back into his pocket and made his way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kihyun has the handwriting of a nobleman lol bye.


End file.
